A Queensland schoolgirl is on her way to represent Australia at a world high school neuroscience competition in Washington DC.

Year 11 Somerville House student Eva Wang will be up against the world's best in the International Brain Bee competition.

The competition will see students identify parts of the brain, assess patients and produce diagnoses.

Initiated in Australia by the University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute in 2006, the competition is designed to identify the student with the greatest neuroscience knowledge.

Ms Wang expects competition to be tough.

"It's going to be very hard as the state and national competitions were hard, so when you think about it, the other competitors have been through the same thing so it's going to be tough," she said.

"I have a sense of wanting to do well and I don't want to embarrass myself because the last two Queenslanders have won the national and international titles as well.

"If I know I have put in the effort, I'll be happy with the results I achieved, I can't ask for anything else."

Preparing for the competition has consumed much of the 16-year-old's spare time.

"I haven't had a proper holiday for quite a while as I spend my holidays preparing for the competition, reading over the books and doing quizzes," she said.

"If I can get the study done in the holidays then I don't have to deal with it in school time!"

The science stereotype

Ms Wang believes the stereotype of science being a male dominated field is changing.

Not many people think about it, but science affects everyone and people take it for granted.

Eva Wang, Australia's International Brain Bee competitor

"I think the general stereotype is that girls don't like going into maths and science as it's a male dominated field; plus in the past males were pressured to do all this education, whereas girls were to stay at home," she said.

"It's improving a lot now with a couple of my friends really into physics, physics isn't my favourite though."

The 'brain whiz' wants people to think more about the biological side of science and how it plays a role in everyday life.

"Not many people think about it, but science affects everyone and people take it for granted," said Ms Wang.

"The most basic things we use like laptops and phones all came from science so I think we need to think about it."

Ms Wang hopes to study medicine after high school and become a GP, before specialising in neuroscience and neurosurgery.

She also wants to aid breast cancer and Alzheimer's research.

The winner of the International Brain Bee competition is set to be announced on August 10.